The European Union, United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia rejected the Russian court’s decision to dissolve the NGO Memorial International and the Center for Human Rights Warning. This was made clear in a joint statement in which they ensured that the work of this agency was “never needed again.”

“We regret the decision of two Russian courts to forcibly close Memorial International and the Memorial Center for Human Rights,” they said. They also stressed that the two organizations were doing “peaceful work” and that “we cannot accept” the judge’s assertion that the entities condone extremism and terrorism.

The decisions taken by the court on Tuesday (12/28/2021) and Wednesday (12/29/2021) this week led to the closure of the main human rights organizations in Russia and the vote of Soviet retaliation, which was made in 1987 when the Soviet Union had not yet disappeared. .

“For more than three decades, the Memorial has played a unique role in documenting historical crimes and in restoring for posterity the memory of the tens of millions of victims of political repression in this country,” notes Brussels, Washington, London, Canberra and Ottawa. “He has also tirelessly advocated for the protection of human rights in Russia, denounced grave abuses, including in the North Caucasus, and maintained a growing list of those he considers political prisoners,” they continued.

They recalled their condemnation of Russian laws against foreign agents and said that “the excessive decision to silence Memorial comes after months of systematic and deep repression in Russia” of human rights defenders, independent media said. group. “The Russian people, like anywhere in the world, have the right to freedom of expression and association, including in defense of their human rights and fundamental freedoms,” they argued in the statement.

Both organizations have announced that they will appeal to the Russian courts and their intention to go to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.

mn (efe, Reuters)